Talks - Pets in the Home

Pets in the Home

Pets in the Home

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
, 2001-05-16

A cyberspace devotee wants to know why some Hindus do not like to have pets in the home. Gurudeva says in Hindu villages in India there are no veterinarians to take care of the pets but in the homes of western educated Hindus one would often find pets that are well taken care of and that meet the Ayurvedic sanitation requirements.

Unedited Transcript:

A cyberspace devotee wonders about pets in the home, like dogs and cats. It seems that a lot of Hindus are against having dogs and cats in the home.

In Hindu villages all over India, there are no veterinarians to take care of cats and dogs. It is rather a luxury. Western educated Hindus often have beautiful cats and dogs within their home and take care of them according to the western way - sanitation, veterinarian help and all the modern faculties to maintain the luxury of a cat or a dog.

There is nothing that I know of in Hindu scripture that prevents one from having a pet in the home, except that sanitation according to Ayurveda, is extremely important for the health of the family.